Following the adoption of its ambitious External Investment Plan (EIP), the European Union (EU) organised a one-day outreach event in Cairo on Wednesday 8 November as part of its implementation to boost investments and support more inclusive and sustainable development in Africa and the European Neighbourhood. Under the EIP it is expected that the EU will mobilise a contribution of €4.1 billion that will leverage up to €44 billion of investments from public and private sector from 2017 to 2020.

The event in Cairo is the first of a series of outreach events for private and public sectors across the region. It aimed at bringing together the national authorities, business communities, private sector, partner International Financial Institutions (IFIs) and other stakeholders to discuss the investment opportunities in various sectors and to provide an opportunity to network with key private and public sector stakeholders.

Experts and participants discussed the challenges and potential in some of the specific sectors to be covered initially within the EIP. These are: sustainable energy and connectivity, MSMEs, agriculture, sustainable cities and digitalisation.

Ambassador Ivan Surkoš, Head of the EU Delegation to Egypt said about the EIP: "This initiative is another sign of the strong commitment from the EU to encourage and help boosting economic growth through private and public investment in our partner countries, in Africa and in the Neighbourhood region. Our partnership approach is geared at promoting entrepreneurship, trade and new investment opportunities. This is in view to address obstacles to growth, to promote inclusive growth and job creation, and to deepen economic integration."

The EIP responds to ambitious political objectives and aims at mobilising a large volume of investments (especially from the private sector) to fulfil economic and social development in EU partner countries. To prepare the ground for the launch of the EIP, the European Commission is working to ensure the widest visibility to the Plan, its approach and its instruments, by engaging with a reinforced dialogue with EU partners and with the business communities across the Neighbourhood Regions.

The EIP is based on the conviction that financing needs to be coupled with business and investment climate improvements for investments to materialise and for growth and jobs to be generated. In practice it means that investment projects financed under the EIP needs to be linked to the investment climate reform agenda, addressing country risks and improving framework conditions for doing business. Structured dialogue with the private sector will therefore be instrumental in helping the European Commission identifying specific bottlenecks for investment that can then be addressed through EU support and policy dialogue.